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Steering wheel not centered after alignment

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Old 10-28-2013 | 05:50 AM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by andrewhake
After a bit more freeway driving, it seems the car will drift slightly to the right with my hands of the wheel when cruising at 70mph. It is very subtle but it is consistent on different patches or road. This isn't noticeable unless at speed.
This is a very typical behavior on the freeway, as most freeways have a crown to them, so you naturally end up drifting to the right. Have you tried the hands off test on a flat smooth road? How many miles on the tires? Used tires can develop their own pull to them due to the previous alignment.
Old 10-28-2013 | 06:15 AM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by Voodoo_S2K
Originally Posted by andrewhake' timestamp='1382736046' post='22846861
After a bit more freeway driving, it seems the car will drift slightly to the right with my hands of the wheel when cruising at 70mph. It is very subtle but it is consistent on different patches or road. This isn't noticeable unless at speed.
This is a very typical behavior on the freeway, as most freeways have a crown to them, so you naturally end up drifting to the right. Have you tried the hands off test on a flat smooth road? How many miles on the tires? Used tires can develop their own pull to them due to the previous alignment.
This!

It was made even worse when I had the UK specs.
Old 10-28-2013 | 11:20 AM
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Voodoo_S2K
This is a very typical behavior on the freeway, as most freeways have a crown to them, so you naturally end up drifting to the right. Have you tried the hands off test on a flat smooth road? How many miles on the tires? Used tires can develop their own pull to them due to the previous alignment.
Yeah that is what I was thinking as well but the steering is still slightly offset at lower speeds on roads that I would definitely consider flat. It is definitely possible that I could have some strange tire wear, but I only have 1500 miles on the tires at the moment. This does include my regular abusive driving routine and the Laguna track day, but I have never noticed this big of an offset in the steering as I went through my other sets of tires. For example, I had the RE-11 installed and aligned. Steering remained straight from the day I installed the tires to the day they were corded. I had to go to some random place before the Laguna track day because I couldn't get an appointment in time for AI, and they definitely weren't as precise as AI is, so it is definitely possible that the tires developed a slightly different wear pattern.

Will it hurt anything to correct for what could possibly be offset wear patters or is it best to just deal with the slightly offset wheel? It is quite subtle but I think a slight adjustment would be ideal.

I was wondering as well if maybe it is a good idea to dial in more caster as I up the camber in the front? It seems like most people try to dial in as much caster as they can with a more aggressive alignment.
Old 10-30-2013 | 04:53 PM
  #24  
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Stopped by Auto Innovations today and they got it dialed in just right for me. I still get the usual behavior when driving on the freeway due to the crown in the road, but it is much more subtle now and when on a flat road everything is nice and square up. I also had them increase caster from 6.0 to 6.5 and what a nice difference that makes in the weight of the steering with a staggered setup. I told them I would gladly pay for the cost of another alignment since I decided to change the caster specs but Orlando was nice enough to make the changes for free. Big thumbs up for AI. Highly recommended.

Thanks again for everyone's help and information.
Old 10-31-2013 | 05:11 AM
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Really they are great guys. You cannot find a better place.
Old 10-31-2013 | 07:29 AM
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Originally Posted by rob-2
Really they are great guys. You cannot find a better place.
I 100% agree!!
Old 10-06-2014 | 02:35 PM
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Holy crap... I just called them for an estimate and they gave me a $ that was unbelievable!
Old 10-06-2014 | 02:49 PM
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How much?
Old 10-06-2014 | 02:54 PM
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$80!
Old 10-06-2014 | 03:02 PM
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I don't even bother with my steering wheel, they always have it straight and I know because my relatively new street wheels and tires always make my otherwise off steering wheel with my track tires straight.
My track tires are even worn relatively even and it's still off, I stopped worrying about it years ago, I'd rather leave it mechanically straight vs having them do whatever is needed to make it straight. You'll get there someday too Andrew



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